Matt Brown on drug testing: 'Ignorance has never been an excuse'
Following a string of drug testing controversies recently, UFC welterweight Matt Brown speaks out about some of the excuses that have been made by fighters either testing positive for banned substances or admitting use just before a drug test could reveal what was in their system.
Brown has been a staunch advocate in favor of stiffer penalties for performance enhancing drug use, suggesting at one point a lifetime ban for a first offense.
This week Lyoto Machida admitted to using a banned substance called 7-Keto with DHEA, which led to the cancellation of his fight with Dan Henderson.
On the latest Great MMA Debate podcast, Brown says that Machida claiming he didn't know the substance was banned was just a poor excuse because he found everything he needed to know by simply searching for the product on Google.
"A guy has to know what he's putting in his body," Brown said. "I've been on a web search for less than two minutes here and just did Wikipedia and it says the World Anti-Doping Agency lists 7-Keto/DHEA as a prohibited anabolic agent."
The same could be said for former heavyweight champion Frank Mir, who revealed that he tested positive for a banned substance on the day of his last fight against Mark Hunt.
Mir has denied all wrongdoing and says he has no idea how the substance got into his body, but once again that excuse falls on deaf ears when it comes to Brown.
"Ignorance has never been an excuse," Brown said. "You can't go 65 (miles-per-hour) down the road and say oh I thought it was a 35 mile-per-hour zone. You still get the fine, you still get the ticket. Ignorance has never been an excuse."
To hear the rest of Brown's comments on drug testing in the UFC as well as his preparation for Demian Maia at UFC 198 and a slew of other debate topics, listen to the newest episode of the podcast with Brown, Damon Martin and Jeremy Loper.
You can also listen to the show via iTunes or Soundcloud.
